Compared to 48 hours ago there hasn't been much change in Thomas Coville and Sodebo's position relative to solo non-stop around the world record holder Francis Joyon's IDEC - with the former still 1221 miles astern of the virtual position of the latter. Sodebo was a little downspeed yesterday morning, but is now once again back up to 22-25 knots, in fact among the highest speeds we have seen from her on this lap.

At present Sodebo is around 150 miles to the west of the longitude of Cape Leeuwin, the southwestern most tip of Australia, but she is not expected to have broken any records for this stretch of her round the world voyage, despite having a relatively fast Indian Ocean crossing.

Sodebo is currently sailing in some of the most stable winds she has seen since she left the North Atlantic with 25 knots gusting to 30 or so from the WNW, between the high that is currently straddling the Roaring Forties and the depressions deep into the 'screaming 60s'. These fast conditions look set to remain for Sodebo for the rest of the week when the forecasts indicates that sometime on Friday night she could overtake the front at which point she should be south of the Tasman Sea. We suspect that over this period Coville should be able to reclaim some miles off IDEC. His progress should also be helped as his team report that he has been sailing between two corridors of ice to the north and south of Sodebo, which he has now passed. These have forced Coville to sail deeper than he would like so he has had to spend more time tending to the trim and sail changes.

"You can't get into a rhythm in these places," Coville commented yesterday. "You are always at the mercy of the boat, and while I should be into the routine of eating three times each day each time, I have to force myself to because often I don't want to eat or, quite simply, I don't have the energy required to prepare a hot meal. I know that I can't relent on this - because, if you don't sleep, then at least you need to eat."